THE CHRISTIAN SPECTATOR. No. 9.] SEPTEMBER 1, 1824. Heligious Communications. For the Christian Spectator. THE ELOQUENCE OF ST. PAUL. Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian:-This passage unfolds the grand secret of this great apostle's eloquence. It shows us the end and the power of his oratory. Not to attempt an analysis of all the properties in the composition of this great master of christian orators, we will confine ourselves merely to one point, the object of his eloquence. A man's leading object of pursuit invariably characterizes his actions. Let his object be mean, his actions will be despicable. Let it be feeble or wavering, and imbecility or fickleness will mark every movement towards its accomplishment. But let a man possessing great natural talents, have an important object, one which involves immense and everlasting consequences, and let this object come home to his heart with a deep and affecting interest, and then we may expect a grand and powerful movement-a train of actions rising in sublime and consistent elevation, commensurate with the powers of the man, and the high standard of his actions. Such a man was St. Paul, and such an object he had in view-an object which engrossed his whole soul, and enlisted all his powers. This object was in his own emphatic language, to "persuade men in Christ's stead to be reconciled to Vol. VI.-No. 9. 57 [VOL. VI. God." "I am made all things to all men, that I might, by all means, save some." The influence of this object was uniform and powerful. He never seems to have lost sight of it for a moment. As soon as he is arrested in his own course of persecution, he is "not disobedient unto the heavenly vision." "Immediately he confers not with flesh and blood;" he henceforth" knows no man after the flesh;" but in the face of opposition and suffering, advances with a resolution of purpose, which no obstacles could resist, or abate. Peter was at times actuated by this exalted motive; but in him it was not so steady and uniform a principle. At times he is a bold and fearless man, he can walk on the sea, he can call for fire from heaven, he can smite the servant of the high priest, and declare with confidence, though all men should deny, yet will not I." At other times, you see him following the captive Saviour" afar off," trembling at the interrogation of a female, -and declaring profanely, "I know not the man!" But St. Paul was always pressing towards his mark. From the period of his conversion to the hour of his death, I recollect no passage from which it can be fairly inferred that he was either stationary or retrograde in his christian course. This object, operating so steadily and powerfully, impressed on his oratory several distinguishing cha racteristics. It made it Pertinent, Practical, Persuasive. 1. It made it pertinent. He always spoke to the point. Of course his oratory is as various as the several occasions on which it was displayed. In order to attain his grand object, he knew it was necessary to adapt his style and manner to the condition of his hearers. When addressing a Jewish auditory, therefore, we see him professing, (and doubtless sincerely,) the profoundest respect for the laws and institutions of Moses. His style of address is gentle and affectionate. His hearers are "Fathers and Brethren." He himself is a Jew-educated at the feet of a Jewish Rabbi, and taught "according to the perfect manner of the law." Moses is his law giver-Abraham is the father of the faithful-the prophets are the announcers of the facts and doctrines he delivers. If he has appealed unto Cesar, it is not because he has aught to accuse his nation of. He says "none other things than Moses and the prophets did say should come," and that it is for" the hope of Israel, he is bound with this chain." If he preaches to a heathen audience, his text is taken from one of their own altars. The Deity he is about to announce, is the very one to whom they had paid unconscious homage. The worship which is due to him is dictated by the plainest principles of reason, by which they profess to be governed; and even their own poets bear testimony to the sentiments he delivers. If his hearers are unlearned and uncultivated, his language is plain and simple If learned and polite, his whole demeanour is that of courtly urbanity. With the faithful but afflicted disciple, he could sympathize in language of the most touching tenderness. To those who have erred, but not beyond the hope of recovery, he could administer correction with a faithful and prudent hand. Some he could save "with fear pulling them out of the fire;" of others he could “have compassion making a difference." And when a case of incorrigible perverseness, accompanied with daring effrontery occurred, and it became necessary for him to rive the flinty rock, he could rebuke with severity. But not withstanding the occasional variety in his language and mode of address, which his great object demanded, yet there are some circumstances, which would obviously tend to give his discourses a considerable degree of uniformity; i. e. would make them uniformly Didactic. It will be recollected that St. Paul was a Missionary. His appropriate business was to plant the gospel. He had to take his hear ers "de novo," to commence with first principles, and could scarcely stay longer in a place than to instruct his flock in the rudiments of Christianity. The Jews, his brethren, were not to be charmed into Christianity by the graces of elocution: If he would persuade them to be Christians, he must go "to the law and and the testimony." He must understand and practice the laws of sacred interpretation. He must reason with them out of their own scriptures, "proving and alleging that Jesus is the Christ." To the Gentiles certainly, the whole system was new. He carried "new doctrines and strange things to their ears ;" and here the only thing that could avail,were facts and plain obvious first principles. The epistles of St. Paul too, though written to Christians, were written mostly to those who were but partially instructed in the fundamental doctrines-to those who "needed that some one should teach them again, which are the first principles of the oracles of God." Of course we cannot expect consistently with the great object the apostle had in view; the higher strains of impassioned eloquence. He could not speak in enticing words of man's wisdom, nor like the celebrated orators of Greece and Rome, make his fervent appeal merely to the natural sympathies and passions of the heart. 2. The apostle's object made his discourses practical. It has been justly remarked, that the preaching of St. Paul, more than that of any other apostle, was doctrinal. His great learning-his profound and discriminating intellect-as well as his inspired wisdom, qualified him for this. But there is one circumstance which ought never to be overlooked. St. Paul's learned, critical, doctrinal discourses, are PRACTICAL. He never pushes his researches beyond the point of practice. He never loses the Christian in the philosopher. He studied only that he might render himself approved as a workman. He entered the field of human science, only that he might discover what he might bring to the confirmation of practical truth. He explored the deep things of divine revelation, only that he might find arguments to enforce duty, or considerations to inspire devotion: Thus if he alludes to the Olympic games, in which "they that run in a race, run all, but one receiveth the prize;" his object is to induce his brethren to run with more alacrity the christian race. If he alludes to the soldier's panoply, and the soldier's conflict-bis object is to induce Christians to "put on the whole armour of God; and fight, not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness in high places." If he unfolds the sublime doctrine of the resurrection, his object is not to amuse the curious, by ingenious speculation, but to disarm the last enemy of his sting, to enable the dying Christian to exclaim in the agonies of dissolving nature, "O death, where is thy sting! O grave, where is thy victory!" That he might say to his beloved brethren, "Therefore be ye steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, in as much as ye know that your labour is not vain in the Lord.” If at any time he is led into the mysterious depths of Divine Sovreignity, his object is not to show the acuteness of his penetration,-not to establish some abstract principle, to make out an article of his creed, or prove a favourite point in his system of divinity. But he is labouring with a view to a case in hand. Here are Jews and Gentiles before him. The providences of God toward both, have been dark and mysterious. His object is to investigate the subject, in order to vindicate the goodness and justice of God in the calling of the one, and the rejection of the other; and as if conscious that the subject was too deep for the human intellect, he emerges from the abyss with the exclamation, "Oh the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" 3. The apostle's object made his eloquence persuasive. It would have this effect in two ways-indirectly by its influence on himself, and directly, by its own weight and solemnity on the minds of his hear ers. First; It had an influence on himself. It summoned and concentrated all the energies of his intellect, gave weight and stability to his judgment, interest to his countenance, earnestness to his gestures, and deep feeling to his utterance; imparting to his whole demeanor, an indescribable significancy. Every look, every gesture, would be as another tongue speaking things unutterable. Secondly: It would have a direct influence on the minds of others. The end for which he spoke, as we have seen, was not to amuse but to save his bearers. The object which actuated the apostle in bring ing forward all the great truths and doctrines of revelation, rendered them doubly solemn and affecting. The doctrine of human depravity, for instance, when presented not with a view to make out a system of divinity; but for the clear purpose of making men feel their depravity, and thus to lead them to the Saviour would come home with dreadful interest. They would not probably retire extolling the preacher, or congratulating themselves on account of their orthodoxy; but condemning themselves on account of their sins. Such was the devotion of the apostle to his object, that it could not be concealed. He compels you to look to the end he is pursuing, and not at him. This rises and is magnified, till it fills the mental vission, and you know not, and care not, by whose instrumentality the image is presented. It seems not to be St. Paul, but the Judgment which makes Felix tremble. Not St. Paul, but his reasoning, which almost persuades King Agrippa. Not St. Paul, but the truth he declared, which made the Jews" cry out, and cast off their clothes, and throw dust into the air." It is true that the highest effect of eloquence is not to be attained by a single trait or characteristic of the speaker; but there is, to say the least, something noble, something truly affecting, to see a great man willing to forget himself;-who in his concern for others, is willing "to impart to them, not the gospel of God only; but his own life also;" -who compels you by his own example to overlook the littleness of private interests, and fix your admiring eyes on scenes momentous as the judgment, and solemn as eternity. Such is a concise view of the eloquence of St. Paul. If the principles which we have laid down and endeavoured to illustrate are correct, we have the foundation for several interesting remarks. First. We see the reason why so many attend more to the preacher, than to the truths he delivers. Louis XIV. once said to Massillon, "When I hear other preachers, I usually go home praising them, but when I hear you, I go home condemning myself." It is a lamentable fact, that the preaching of the gospel, which was ordained of God as the instrument of snatching immortal souls from perdition, should be converted into the mere instrument of charming their fancies. O, it is dreadful, to see an assembly of candidates for eternity, sitting for an hour to speculate on the preacher ! to watch his motions, to be delighted only with the melody of his voice, the smoothness and grandeur of his periods, and the sprightly images of his fancy!—and then carelessly retiring from the house of worship, remembering only what they never should have noticed, and praising what perhaps ought rather to be condemned,-the manner of the preacher! But so it is. Nor must the fault be attributed to the people alone. Shall not the hearers attend to what the preacher does? If his object be to please by his gestures, his language, or his wit; shall they not be pleased with his language or his wit? How can he expect that his hearers will be solemn when he trifles? How can he expect that even the truth will go to their hearts when it does not come from his own? When a minister sees in his audience an air of levity or indifference, here an idle gaze, and there a wanton smile-he ought to pause and ask himself-am I preaching in God's stead to this assembly? Do I feel for their welfare? Am I preaching for Christ? He ought to consider, whether he and his people are not too justly described in the language of God to his prophet; "They come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, say to each individual, "thou art the man? Must a minister consecrate all his learning and talents to the sole end of edifying his hearers, and shall they turn his discourses into a subject of vain curiosity, or idle speculation? Must a minister, at the hazard of his soul, bring forward the great truths and doctrines of the bible, with the sole view that his people should receive them to their hearts, and practice them in their lives; and shall his people receive them only to trample them under foot, or make them the mere sport of opinion? Or shall a minister spend and be spent for his hearers-shall he count no labours or sufferings too great to be endured, and being exceedingly desirous of them, be willing "to impart, not the gospel of God only, but his own life also," because they are dear unto him,and shall his people have no concern for themselves-no solicitude for their own salvation, and make not a single effort to secure it! but they will not do them, for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after covetousness. And, lo! thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument, for they hear tby words, but they do them not."* Secondly. We have a good standard of preaching. St. Paul is a model. In him we see what is the legitimate end of the ministry-to persuade men to become reconciled to God. We see too, the best method of effecting this end. Preaching must be pertinent, practical, and persuasive. To conform to this standard, the minister must adapt his discourses to the condition of his hearers. Some he must win by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, others he must persuade by the terrors of the law." He must be practical. He must not preach to amuse himself or his hearers. He may have learning, but he must not preach to display it. He must preach doctrine; not as a matter of speculation, nor as a sectary to make proselytes to a party, or a system, but he must bring all his stores of learning, all his science and philosophy, and all the doctrines of revelation, to bear on the point of practice - The Reasons why Mankind reject to make men better. And above all, if he would be persuasive, he must have his heart in the work. He must feel like St. Paul, "wo is me if I preach not the gospel." He must love his hearers. He must be willing to spend and be spent for them." He must look forward to that solemn scene, when he will meet them all at the judgment seat, where he and they will receive their final doom. 'Thirdly; If such ought the minis ter to be, what ought the hearers to be? What then! must a minister adapt his preaching to the condition of his hearers, and shall his hearers be offended, when he points out their condition? When he gives every one a portion and seems to *Ezekiel xxxiii. 33. "He that hath ears to hear let him hear." the Gospel. A SERMON. L. LUKE xvi. 31.-If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. This passage is the close of a very interesting parable. Our Saviour here teaches us that the soul, immediately after death, enters upon a state of happiness or misery. The rich man and Lazarus, who form the subject of this parable, are represented as having their destinies fixed for eternity as soon as their souls had left their bodies. The one lifts up his eyes, being in torments; the other is carried by angels into Abraham's bosom. |